00:03The problem with studying long extinct creatures is that their tissue degrades, even if it's safely stuffed and on display
00:10in a museum.
00:11But now researchers with the Center for Paleogenics in Stockholm and Stockholm University have extracted RNA from a century-dead
00:18Tasmanian tiger.
00:19And they say it could not only change the way we study found specimens, but also give us a closer
00:23look at the biological evolution of viruses.
00:26This is Love Dalen, Professor in Evolutionary Genomics at Stockholm University to explain.
00:32We analyzed RNA from the thinosine or the Tasmanian tiger.
00:37And RNA is a molecule that transmits information from the genome to the rest of the cell.
00:43And this is the first time that anyone has ever recovered RNA from an extinct species.
00:48The Tasmanian tiger is believed to have gone extinct in the 1930s.
00:52But from this sample, they were able to figure out that they had a particular RNA gene specifically related to
00:57the buildup of skin tissue.
00:59That's not all that exciting.
01:00But they say it's just the beginning and is sort of a proof of concept with regards to the process.
01:05And the researchers believe this same method could be used to look at old pandemic viruses and see how they
01:10evolve over hundreds of years or more.
01:13Giving us insight into predicting and treating future outbreaks.
01:16But now we actually do have the possibility to, for example, go back to the influenza pandemic of 1918 and
01:24look in museum skins if we can find that virus.
01:26For example, in bird skins, which are thought to be an important vector for influenza viruses.
01:33Okay.
01:39Brush your eyes.
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